REDLANDS – Jeremy Stanwix sounded more like a football coach than a warehouse manager.

Stanwix, general manager of the new Home Depot distribution center on Alabama Street, led shouts of “H-O-M-E D-E-P-O-T” that reverberated through the building at its dedication Thursday morning.

“This day is your day,” he told about 200 employees clad in black T-shirts and orange aprons.

Stanwix said the best thing about the 657,000-square-foot facility is the jobs it offers.

“(We’d ask), ‘What are you doing now?’ ‘I got laid off.’ ”

“We’re giving folks a new start and see folks grow later,” he said after the dedication ceremony.

The complex will employ 300 to 400 people, likely by next year. It will serve about 100 stores in Southern California, extending to Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Idaho, according to regional distribution manager Dana Allison.

“We’re in the middle of supply chain transformation and this (facility) is a huge part of that,” he said.

Redlands Mayor Jon Harrison said the center will help grow the local economy.

“It means we’re seeing a lot of economic activity and I’m very pleased,” he said at the ceremony.

The Redlands center is part of The Home Depot’s new system of centralizing shipping, eliminating the need for stores to order in bulk from manufacturers.

The company is opening a similar facility in December near Stockton. Another one is opening in Ontario next year, Allison said.

The new distribution model allows suppliers to send items to a central location. One delivery truck takes the bulk of a store’s weekly orders.

Another benefit is reduction in traffic congestion on city streets and wear and tear on the roads, according to Home Depot spokeswoman Sarah Molinari.